All that is left, is to wait for the order. Our station here in CNC-4V exited reinforced mode a few minutes ago, the enemy have begun their bombardment. If they get through the armour then they will finally take control. All week long everything has been leading to this showdown.

‘Bad Moon on the Rise’ has become a focal point for the conflict in Catch over recent days. It is about to become a flashpoint. Against All Authorities have come in force with a host of allies to push the assault and break our hold over the station and system. They want to end the back forth contest of wills that we have been fighting, I hear they are even calling this battle a ‘line in the sand’. They are eager for victory, as are we.

System local has exceeded three hundred. -A-‘s coalition fleet is almost entirely sub-capital, we wait to see if they bring in their super capitals to rain down fury upon the station. I know already that -A- are testing our response. If we attack, they see our forces. If we wait too long, we lose the station. It is a test of nerves, the station is resilient but will fall eventually.

Our fleet is some forty strong, our allies are close by. I listen to our comms as scraps of information are exchanged from our liasons to our fleet, from our scouts to our fleet commander. We bide our time, let things evolve. Then the first shift happens.

Our scouts report the -A- fleet warping off station, leaving a Revelation dreadnought behind alone. We assume that its a big juicy chunk of bait, but decide to make our move and take the opportunity. I go to warp, my newly commissioned Tempest battleship surges forward. Systems check. I take a deep mental breath, my fingers flexing in the thick liquids of my pod. Time for battle, time to focus.

Ahh crap. I forgot to insure this thing…

I drop out of warp maybe 30km away from the Revelation, I begin to lock it up as I turn my ponderous battleship back to align towards safety. Just in case. The station obstructs my flight path so I pulse the MWD to clear the top of it as my autocannons swing into position. Heavy shells streak through space and the Revelation’s shields begin falling swiftly under our combined fire.

A lone Armageddon warps in, I expect it be followed by the rest of the enemy fleet but…nothing appears after it. I switch targets and activate my warp disruptor, alone it quickly succumbs to our onslaught. As it dies a second ‘Geddon drops out of warp and meets the same fate, but still no fleet.

I resume firing on the Revelation, as round after round hit home its armour drops lower and lower. Help it seems is not coming. A few minutes more and he is in serious trouble. As mighty as a Dreadnaught might be, alone it is vulnerable and this one is about to die a death of a thousand cuts as our battleships pour on the fire.

I watch with satisfaction as the golden hull cracks and buckles. I don;t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing Amarrian warships break apart…

But we are not done yet, far from it. White Noise and -A- are engaged at the Y-PNRL stargate. System local is pushing four hundred Capsuleers, and just about all of them are engaging now. We come about and go to warp. Here comes the main event.

The battle unfolds in front of me as the warp tunnel collapses, White Noise Titans and a few Super Carriers are on the field and a whole seething mass of sub-capitals swarm over and around them. I point the nose of my ship into it and dive in, locking up multiple enemy battleships.

Its a chaotic mess of a firefight, half the ships I lock have already come under fire. I waste no time in adding my own autocannons into the mix. Switching targets I keep looking for priority ships, unlocking hostiles as they get out of range and selecting new targets in their place.

I’m getting distracted by the enemy, I’m getting separated from my fleet among all the hostiles and allies. If I get too far from our logistics ships, I’m going to melt under fire…not good. Better close the gap, change course and pulse the MWD.

I can’t tell who is coming out of this on top, we kill some and another wave arrives. I’ve filtered out alot of information from my HUD, in a fight this big there is just too much going on to track in detail. Our target caller has switched a couple of times but I’ve found one them to reanchor myself on, should be close enough to friends now.

I’ve been dishing out the hurt, looks like someone is starting to notice me. My shields are taking a few hits but it can’t be from coordinated fire. Best alert the logi’s now, I won’t get much warning if an enemy target caller decides to take me down…

We’ve come up on the other side’s logi wing finally, Guardians and electronic warfare ships are coming into range now. Break these and we’ll swing it. Switching targets…

…And the field is clearing. Enemy ships are pulling out, their stragglers are falling fast. Damn there’s alot of wrecks and abandoned drones here now! That is going to take some cleaning up, its going to be awhile before the final tallies are known, but it looks like we’ve swung the fight pretty well in our favour.

The hostiles are pulling back, I suppose that leaves us to re-securing the station. And its taking one helluva beating, although the services seem largely intact at this point.

It feels…decisive. We’ve held the field and fought one of the largest battles of the recent conflict. We won, but it won’t be the last battle to fight. I can’t help but think today was unusual, it has been a long time since I saw an engagement on that scale that didn’t result in a capital ship confrontation.

Over five hundred ships were destroyed in an hour today. The last time I saw that it marked the beginning of the end for CVA’s Providence bloc in D-GTMI. I’m not sure that will be the case this time. D-GTMI saw the near destruction of the Providence capital fleet, today saw a test of wills. I’m not sure that this will be the last straw for our enemy, but I do know that we are coming out of it a little stronger than we walked in.

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